Daniel recently directed my attention to a submission that has just been
made to the W3C:
http://www.w3.org/Submission/1997/16/
which discusses a system of transformation properties that is compatible
with CSS syntax. If the CSS working group considered it appropriate to add
such functionality to CSS 2, then in addition to the properties mentioned
in the submission, it would presumably also be possible to include a
property that would permit the insertion by the style sheet of text
fragments, including markup, into the document. Styles could then be
applied recursively to generate the desired output.
Thus, for example, one could define two properties, perhaps called
INSERT-BEFORE and INSERT-AFTER, the function of which would be to insert
strings of characters, comprising both text and markup, into the document.
The text would of course be marked up in the object language, and once it
had been inserted, all relevant styles would then be applied.
I recognise that such a proposal would amount to a fairly radical
extension of CSS 2, but if the submission cited above is taken seriously,
on other grounds, then the WAI could capitalise on it by suggesting the
inclusion of the properties which I have described, as a solution to the
generic prefix/suffix text issue.